Weekend Openings: Beacon and Millbrook NY

I have two big events going on this weekend.  Artist Galina Krasskova and I are renting a truck to show our work during Beacon Open Studios.  We are part of Truck City - a pop up art venue in the parking lot of Spire Studios.  Maps are available at my gallery, RiverWinds, at 172 Main Street.  In the truck I'll be selling my paintings and in a bin, photographs for $20 each - any size. Galina also be selling her paintings and travel photos.  The truck will be there May 3-4, open from noon to 6 pm.

The Orbs: Undiscovered Planets, acrylic on canvas, each 12x12

Also this month I'm part of a fabulous group photography show - Many Visions - at the Millbrook Free Library, Millbrook. NY.  The opening reception is Friday, May 2, from 6-7:30 pm, and the show is up all month.  I've been part of this group - the Advanced Photography Seminar at Barrett Art Center - for a number of years.  It consists currently of about a dozen very talented photographers, each with his or her own point of view.  The show will be awesome!  If you are interested in photography, you should take the time to see it.

View From Boscobel, at the Millbrook Library this month

Early Spring the Bronx Botanical Gardens

I found myself at the Bronx Botanical Gardens in New York City yesterday because I needed a parking space and to pass some time!  The day was perfect - in the 60s, with the first bloom of spring flowers and trees.  I love the early spring buds on the trees, before the leaves unfurl.  So this is how I spent my time (ok, I did a little shopping in the gift store too).

All these images were taken with my iPhone and brought into Snapseed photo app for fun adjustments.

Tulips etc at the Bronx Botanical Gardens

Buds just beginning to appear.  Bronx Botanical Gardens

Gorgeous yellow magnolia tree.  Bronx Botanical Gardens

Magnificent flowering pink tree echoed in the reflecting pool

One Photo: Two Treatments

Below is one photo,  treated with two different iPhone photo apps.  I'll be teaching how to use these cool apps next Thursday, April 24, from 6-8 pm at RiverWinds Gallery in Beacon, NY.  It's a fun class - the apps are inexpensive, easy-to-use.  I'll show you the best of the lot!  This class is good with iPhones or iPads.  Contact me if you are interested.

Hudson River view, with cool tones

Hudson River view, with warm tones

One image capture - two different images!

Spring!

I am printing up some spring photos for my gallery, RiverWinds Gallery, in Beacon.  These were taken in previous years with my Nikon, and then I used Glamour Glow in the Nik Filter series to soften and, well, make them glow.

Early Spring - trees just budding

Magnolias have just bloomed!

Beacon, NY - looking towards Mt. Beacon

Before & After with the iPhone

The iPhone has become my camera of choice.  It's always with me, and I love the photo apps - so cheap, so easy-to-use, so fun.  And I've enjoyed teaching these tools to iPhone users.  My next workshop is April 24, from 6-8 pm, at RiverWinds Gallery in Beacon, NY.  If you're interested in learning how to bring your iPhone shots up to the next level, contact me for more details.  I promise--you will learn a lot and have fun!

Before iPhone photo apps:

2 charming girls, looking at the Hudson River, taken with my Nikon D7000

After running the image through some phone apps:

For me, this treatment adds a universal element - it's not Jennie and Alice, but the essence of 2 young girls.

Before:

Overlooking the Hudson River: photo taken with my Nikon

After:

I like the feeling of age and time in this image

The iPhone apps enable me to express the history of photography - they throw back in time.  I was a history major in college, so I guess this kind of time travel has always appealed to me!

Image of the Day: Simple Summer Bouquet

From my garden.  Roses.  Bee balm.  Echinacea.  Old bottle.  On my porch.

Summer bouquet: roses, bee balm, echincacea

Images of the Day: Beacon NY Waterfront

When Rita Pignato, a wonderful photographer, visits me, we always go out and photograph around the Hudson River.  We were running a bit late - no time to drive too far -- light wasn't wonderful -  so we went down to the Beacon waterfront to see what we could see.  We didn't walk more than 50 yards in all -- we found plenty to compose - water/trees/logs/rocks/clouds.  The basics. 

The color at mid-afternoon was subdued -- definitely not the golden hour. So as I worked on this, I kept to a neutral palette, except for the bottom photo, which I'm not sure I like...

Hudson River, looking at Hudson Highlands, Beacon, NY

Hudson River, Beacon NY waterfront.

Hudson River, Beacon NY waterfront

Image of the Day: The View from Boscobel

One of the benefits of attending the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company's plays at Boscobel, NY is the opportunity to take sunset photos of the view - one of the most famous/photographed/painted views of the Hudson Highlands.  Usually the grounds close at 5 - way too early for sunset shots.  So while waiting for King Lear to begin (excellent production) I took this photo with my trusty iPhone.

This view encompasses Constitution Marsh (lower part of photo), West Point (on the right, nestled in the hills) and the Hudson River looking south. 

View from Boscobel

Image of the Day: Summer Roses

I have one rosebush that doesn't get black spot and the tiny critters don't chew on it.  And it blooms a lot.  A sublime rose bush, except it doesn't have an aroma.  Oh well - no one's perfect.  But these roses come close.  This cluster is all from one stem!  The vase is an old cobalt blue, milk of magnesia bottle.  The location is my front porch.

summer roses in a cobalt bottle

Image of the Day: Vanderbilt

One of the Gilded Age mansions built by the Vanderbilts overlooks the Hudson River in Hyde Park, NY.  This was a summer cottage.

Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park, NY

For more info:   http://www.nps.gov/vama/historyculture/index.htm

Painting Class: Day 4

Still painting at Touchstone Craft Center in Pennsylvania.  I have a terrific instructor - Tara Zalewsky - www.tarazalewsky.com - who always has an answer to 2 questions:  what's wrong with this onion/pitcher/flower/garlic/background? and what can I do to this to make it better?

Tiring a tad of vegetables, I plucked some irises on my way to class.  In retrospect, I wish I had picked a simpler flower, but I used what was available!  Tara had this wonderfully graphic black and white stripe tablecloth and we set up the still life with a water glass from the dining room. 

original oil by Mary Ann Glass

And I also took a photo (much higher comfort level on this project)

tree tops

.

Painting Workshop: Day 3

I'm at Touchstone Craft Center in Pennsylvania, taking a water-based oil painting class -- my first painting class.  The insructor is good, the food is excellent, the class is small but collegial and encouraging.  Doesn't mean I'm not taking photographs.  I shot this farm this morning, using my iPhone and stitching together 55 images.

Pennsylvania Farm

Have done about 5 paintings -- this was todays still life.

Silver Pitcher with Lemon

Road Trip: Farmington PA

Jackie's Cafe, Cumberland County, PA

Signed up for a painting class (!) at Touchstone Craft Center in Farmington, PA.  A mere 7-hour drive.  So here we stopped for some junk lunch car food, in Cumberland County.

Fort Necessity, Farmington, PA, with little black bird

Then a look at Fort Necessity -- George Washington's first command, when he was 22 or so.  Not a very distinguished beginning to a military career.  The small fort - just a circle of vertical logs - placed in the middle of a meadow - didn't hold up very well against a French force shooting from the trees.  Washington - at that time a British officer - had to surrender.  But he did get the last laugh.

Image of the Day: The Bedford Oak

On Route 22, near Katonah and New Bedford, NY is a magnificent, really really really old tree. At the corner of The Hook Road and the old Bedford Road (now Cantitoe Street) stands a majestic and venerable white oak tree, "Quercus alba".  It is estimated to be over 500 years old, its girth is more than 30 feet, and the spread of its branches is 120 feet from tip to tip.   I've photographed it before, but I don't think photos do it justice -- hard to envision the scale of this mighty oak.  It is not only quite old - its branches spread out harmoniously and graciously.

Come Visit Me in Truck City This Weekend

This weekend is Beacon Open Studios.  More than 60 artists are showing their work, and I'm one of them.  I'm sharing a truck with oil painter Virginia Donovan, and we would love to see you!  You can pick up a catalog and map at RiverWinds Gallery on Main Street.  I will be selling some of my Roman Wall photo encaustics as well as iPhone images and parts of my Italian portfolio.  I have my Square and I'm ready to swipe...

Trees at Locust Grove - iPhone image

The Hudson River at Peekskill- iPhone image

Roman Wall, photo with encaustic

 

 

Roman Walls, photos without encaustic...

Image of the Day: Central Park

Central Park, NYC

Marian Chapel: Details

Yesterday, on the way to somewhere else, we stopped at a Marian Chapel in West Haverstraw, NY.  On spacious grounds were a school, some shrines, a soccer field, a bookstore, a huge statue of Mary, and a small modern chapel with a few statues and small Stations of the Cross making a circuit around the room.  These are a few images from the chapel.

Madonna and child

St. Joseph

Station XIV

Choose One

From the public parking lot at Woodstock, NY

A quick view of Iona Marsh

Iona Marsh

Iona Marsh is a protected wetlands that has long been a favorite haunt of painters and photographers alike.  It's right on the Hudson River, nestled below Bear Mountain.  Even in winter, it has great weeds.

Iona Marsh

Weed reflections, Iona Marsh

An Afternoon in Central Park, New York City

Semi-circular trellis overlooking the central lawn, Conservatory Garden, NYC

I spent an afternoon at one of my favorite places, the Conservatory Garden in Manhattan's Central Park.  The garden is at 105th and 5th Avenue and is beautifully designed and maintained.  I have taken many many photos there, and it remains photogenic, even in February!  All of these were taken with my iPhone.

The Secret Garden statue, in the perennial section of the Conservatory Garden, NYC

Along Central Park, around 100th Street

 

 

The rose garden trellis at the Conservatory Garden.  The Dance fountain can be seen in the lower left portion of the photos.